Rethinking the System

An encounter with Niki and Leila Harre

You will probably recognise the lady on the left: Leila Harre. You may not know her sister so well. She is Niki, an academic from Auckland University.

 

In 1965, when Audrey and I returned from India, we rented a bach in Mairangi Bay, and the people next door were a Mr and Mrs Harre.

 

The other morning I had a chat over morning tea with Niki, and she told me those folk were her grandparents, and she could just remember their Mairangi Bay house, as she was three or four at the time.

 

Leila had not even been born then.

 

They are on a pilgrimage around the North Island for the month of February; they are travelling without any money and relying on lifts and offers of hospitality, and in return conducting a series of workshops on the theme of "Rethink the System".

 

I had been invited to the meeting here by my old colleague Vivian Hutchinson.

 

But I had also been invited to take a role in the proceedings by our friend Claire Hall. Claire had been Leila's Press Secretary when she was first appointed a Minister, and had arranged a welcome to the Harre sisters with a full Powhiri before the workshop got under way. She asked me to be the Kaumatua of the supporting party as they were welcomed to the venue: Tu Tama Wahine, which is a community and social work NGO with a strong Maori base and close connections with the community of Parihaka.

 

Fortunately I did not have to make a speech - my Maori would not have been adequate, but Claire's son, Felix, who had been a baby when Claire worked for Leila, her husband, Craig Ashworth, and Claire herself, were among the speakers for the manuhiri, all being fluent Maori speakers (Felix is a Year 9 student at the local Whare Kura.

 

After morning tea the workshop began with an explanation of an interesting idea by Niki: she talked about infinite and finite games. Infinite games are like Beach Cricket: the objective is not to win the game, but to include as many people as possible and keep the game going as long as possible. Finite games are like Test Matches, the idea is to win at all costs, the numbers playing are limited to experts, and there are set times and rules.

 

Niki suggested that democracy is an infinite game, not a finite one.

 

The purpose of our workshop was to suggest practical ideas that would serve the ends and values of the infinite game, rather than be confined to the finite games that are played all the time.

 

One suggestion from our small group was to expand the school curriculum to include daily chunks of time spent on practical work experience during adolescence. Another was from the person who prepares the news from one district for the local giveaway newspaper: she only writes positive items. I suggested Universal Basic Income would be just such an idea.

 

I found the idea of the infinite game a real breath of fresh air, re-invigorating my ideas about political activity for this year.

 

In the evening our monthly Labour Party meeting was well-attended and upbeat! The infinite game continues.

 

Meantime, look up the Harre sisters' website for more information:http://www.rethinkthesystem.org/